Hey...

I never knew that you can run your diesel on cooking oil. I manage a large chain restaurant and we produce tons of cooking oil on the daily basis. We have a large hose that sucks it everyday and it gets FILTERED into a huge tank. Once a week we PAY someone to come by and get it off our hands.

Would it be a good idea if I started to use that in my diesel ?

Thanks

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Audi TT

You have the ideal situation for a Veggie Oil Diesel. You could be running your Benz at virtually no cost. Research it a little, and start doing it.

SteveM

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'93 190E/D 2.5 Turbodiesel 5-speed (daily driver)
'87 190D 2.5 Turbo rustbucket - parts car
'84 Dodge Rampage diesel - Land Speed Record Holder
'13 Ram 2500 Diesel
'05 Toyota 4Runner

does the car still perform the same and does it last the same ?

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Audi TT

It's not as simple as dumping it in your tank. Here's a link where you can get good help and information.

Biodiesel Forum

Once you're set up with whatever infrastructure you'll need for your car or garage, you should reap the rewards of free fuel for as long as your restaurant is frying food.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

I've noticed absolutely no reduced performance running on WVO (Waste Vegi Oil). I also get around 25-26 mpg on it.

Long term studies haven't been done so there is no telling if you are hurting your engine by burning vegi oil.

If you went the extra step to convert the oil in to biodiesel you can elay most of those fears since there have been studies on that. However biodiesel is a pain in the rear to make. Plus the chemicals involved are dangerous.

With WVO there are several important things.
1) Filter it down to 2-5 microns unless you really like changing fuel filters
2) Boil out any excess water. (Since you have control over the storage you likely can avoid this by being carefull (not letting the storage tank get rainwater in it).
3) Use a pre-filter for the WVO preferably with a water/oil seperator.
4) WVO will gel when it gets cold. Either heat it in the tank.. or mix it with kerosine, diesel or something to avoid geling.
5) Be meticulous about maintenance.... ie oil changes and the like. There are some concerns over using certain types of engine oil.. something about it reacting with the oil.

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'84 300CD Turbo 132k (Anthracite Grey) - WVO - My daily driver - Recently named coo-coo-coupe by my daughter.
'84 300D Turbo 240k (Anthracite Grey) - Garage Queen
'83 300D Turbo 220k (Orient Red) - WVO - Wifes daily driver

I'm not a certified mechanic, but I did stay at a HolidayInn Express last night.

You could always fill your hot tub with it Hmmmmmm.........

William Rogers.......

You're my new best friend!!!!!

Oh rats. You don't live anywhere near me.

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

My thoughts exactly..

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'84 300CD Turbo 132k (Anthracite Grey) - WVO - My daily driver - Recently named coo-coo-coupe by my daughter.
'84 300D Turbo 240k (Anthracite Grey) - Garage Queen
'83 300D Turbo 220k (Orient Red) - WVO - Wifes daily driver

I'm not a certified mechanic, but I did stay at a HolidayInn Express last night.

Since it sounds like you have quite a surplus of oil, you might want to seek out other local people who want the oil for either WVO use or biodiesel production. Try contacting the local chapter of MBCA, check out the alternative fuels section at TDI Club and the Biodieselnow forums. It should be long before you can stop paying to have this valuable commodity hauled away.

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Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References

any chance you would be willing to share some?

I don't live too far away and I was looking for some oil to experiment with - trying to develop the easiest (and relatively most cost effective) way to filter down to 5 microns...

just out of curiosity, what kind of resturant do you manage? Dinner and veggie oil... sounds like a good evening to me! (although I am sure the wife would rather have dinner and a movie...)

-I filter to .5 Microns, would rather my sock filter clog up on the processor than my spin on clog on the road. , 2-5 would probably work but .5 will defenitely work!
-I don't boil it, I just let it settle and don't use the stuff at the bottom once it settles.
-Water/ oil seperator probably won't help at all since they only work at over 300ppm and WVO will emulsify water if shaken up, IMO you have to get the water out before putting it in the car.
-Just as soot gets in the oil eventually a certain amount of fuel will also, if you delay your oil changes to way to long and let it idle to much your oil will gel up eventually.

In temperatures above 50*F you can probably run it 100% in the main tank (unheated) but under that I'd drop the amount off pretty quickly. By 30*F I'd say have under 10% of this if running unheated. There is a way to mix it with 20% 87 octane and run it at this temperature but I'll leave it at that.

Oh and to answer the original question, you'd be crazy to keep paying for them to take your free fuel away from you. WVO has a cetane of ~53 which will make the motor run quieter, it has much better lubricity than #2 (good for injection system!), but has a little less energy per gallon so your mileage may drop a little, cold temperature properties are less than favorable.

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k